Health Insurance Medical card means test for over 70s

Q

qwerty5

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I have a relative applying for a medical card and they've asked me to help them out. I've been reading the requirements and it says if a couple have €72K in saving then it won't be counted. This couple in question have just over that in their accounts. From the wording on the medical card form I don't know if this immediately means they won't get a medical card. Does anybody here know?
I know there are other criteria too but they're below the thresholds for those.
 
qwerty5,

Its only the interest per year thats assessed for the medical card. So if, for example, they had 100,000 invested. The first 72,000 is disregarded,
so 100,000 - 72,000 = 28,000 @ 1.323% interest rate = 370 interest earned per year or 7 per week.

Total interest amount assessed for medical card means test = 370 per year.

This information is shown clearly on the following link, page 9 + 10, heading 3.4, example 3.4.2.
[broken link removed]

Snowyb
 
Apologies for bumping such an old thread but I thought it better to post here than to start a new thread.

Anybody know what the current HSE notional interest rate applied to savings is, or where it is published, for the purposes of an over 70s medical card application?

I just want to see if it's worth bothering with the application at all on behalf of an elderly relative.

Thanks.
 
Eventually managed to extract the info from the HSE in case it's of any use to anybody else:

The over 70's scheme is assessed on gross income and the savings disregard is 36,000 for a single person and 72,000 for a couple anything in excess of that is assessed at a notional rate of 1.64% as I checked the current rate with the office.


Assessment of income. The gross income limit for the over-70s medical card is €500 per week for a single person and €900 per week for couples who are married, cohabiting or in a civil partnership. These limits were reduced from the previous limits, of €600 and €1,200 per week, from 1 January 2014.
Click to expand...

Since a savings interest rate of 1.64% seems quite high these days it probably makes more sense to look for the actual interest certificate on savings when applying since the actual rate paid on savings will most likely be significantly lower.
 
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It is certainly the better option to get the interest certs especially if you are close to the cut off point. It could be the difference between Medical card or no Medical card. There is no area of doubt/discretion here. €1 over the cut off point - card disallowed. €1 under cut off point - card granted
 
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